The new Disney(DIS) film opened in more than 4,100 theaters domestically and told the story of how the Rebel Alliance stole the secret plans to the evil Death Star. The film's plot takes place right before the events of the original Star Wars film, 1977's "Star Wars: A New Hope."

Unlike other films in the series, "Rogue One" did not focus on the Skywalker family, but instead introduced new characters like Felicity Jones' Jyn Erso and Diego Luna's Cassian Andor.

With its strong performance, "Rogue One" has shown that Disney can make Star Wars films that fans will want to see even if they have nothing to do with the core story. This should serve the company well as it heads into future spinoff films, like 2018's Han Solo origin story.

"The brand equity of the 'Star Wars' brand can only get you so far," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore(SCOR). "If 'Rogue One' didn't deliver, then the huge momentum of 'The Force Awakens' would have essentially been brought to a halt. The good news is that the movie lived up to expectations."

The opening should also stir excitement for next year's highly anticipated "Episode VIII," which continues the saga of Rey, Finn and Kylo Ren, who were introduced in "Force Awakens."

"The next film in the Star Wars saga has the potential to claim the title as the biggest movie of all time," Dergarabedian added. "It is hard to imagine a more powerful one-two punch than 'The Force Awakens' and 'Rogue One' as a lead-up to the release of 'Episode VIII' exactly one year from now."

CNNMoney (New York) First published December 18, 2016: 11:55 AM ET

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